Home Improvement » Tips For Installing Roof Shingles

Mar 11 2009

Tips For Installing Roof Shingles

Published by Jennifer at 10:41 pm under Roofing

Installing metal roof shingles on your home can provide many different benefits for the home; including increasing resistance to wind and rain and providing a roof surface that will last for many years to come. Installing roof shingles can be done by a homeowner who is willing to follow the installation instructions. Not following the installation instructions correctly will result in a roof that is not sturdy and may leak.

Most shingle producers that create roofing materials will include installation instructions in with the same package as the materials. Different shingle producers may have different installation instructions so it is important to review the information before beginning the installation. There are a number of basic tips that will remain the same for each shingle producer and those basic tips are included below.

Tips For Before You Begin

There are a number of items that will be needed for installing roof shingles correctly and these items should be on hand before beginning the project. For correctly installing roof shingles, you will need a claw hammer, nails, a nail apron, steel tape, string, chalk, an electric circular saw, and utility knives. Each of these items can be found at your local home improvement store.

Before beginning, you will need to determine how many roof shingles will be needed to cover the entire roof area. This can be done by measuring the total area of the roof and dividing by the size of each roof shingle, taking into account the overlapping that will be needed for correct installation. If you need help with determining how many shingles you may need to cover your roof, you can call the shingle producer with the dimensions of your roof and they will let you know how many shingles you will need to complete the project.

Installing Roof Shingles Properly

A chalk line should be used to ensure that all roof shingles line up properly during installation. Starting from the corner of the roof, the homeowner should be installing roof shingles in single rows stretching from side to side across the length of the roof. After each row has been completed, the homeowner should start installing roof shingles for the next row traveling in the same direction as the prior row.

The homeowner should start installing roof shingles starting at the bottom and working their way up. The bottom of the shingles being installed should overlap the tops of the lower shingles, which will allow rain, snow, and leaves to move down the roof without getting trapped in any areas of the roof. Both sides of the roof should be covered with the roof shingles before the ridge is added to the peak of the roof.